TACOMA, Wash. - Tacoma’s Allenmore Hospital is getting a makeover when it comes to emergency services.

The hospital, 1901 S. Union Ave., on Wednesday officially launched a $15 million expansion of its emergency department, which will add 14,600 square feet to the site. The expansion also will allow the department to treat up to 10,000 more patients each year for a total of 40,000 emergency patients annually, according to the MultiCare Health System, which operates the hospital.

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The current emergency department will remain in operation during the expansion.

“Our No. 1 priority is the safety and care of each person in this community,” Sharon Oxendale, president and chief operating officer of MultiCare Tacoma General Allenmore Hospital said in a statement announcing the expansion.

“This $15 million investment in our emergency department is a tangible reflection of that commitment and just one of many new initiatives that we’re working on to elevate the level of care at the Allenmore Hospital campus.”

The expansion’s goal is faster access to care.

Plans call for the expansion to be constructed in the project’s first phase; the second phase to be completed later this year will involve demolition of the existing emergency department.

According to the health system, the addition will bring in its first phase “four exam rooms, two resuscitation rooms, four risk-reduction rooms, four triage rooms, an isolation room and eight results-pending bays.”

By fall of this year, “the newly constructed area that was previously the original emergency department will become operational with three additional exam rooms, one bariatric room and additional support and staff spaces,” the health system said in its release.

This is the second project connected to MultiCare announced this week to address the demands put on its local emergency departments. DispatchHealth announced its partnership with MultiCare in a new service bringing on-demand urgent care teams to homes in Tacoma.

This also is the second major construction project in the Allenmore area recently, with the construction of the region’s new Behaviorial Health Hospital nearby. More information is at https://www.multicare.org/allenmore-maps-parking/